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Mittelstadt named to Team USA's World Junior preliminary roster

The Buffalo Sabres will have one of their top prospects representing the United States at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship later this month in Buffalo.

Froward Casey Mittelstadt has been selected to Team USA's preliminary roster of 28 players. The roster will be trimmed down to 23 players before the tournament begins on December 26th.

Buffalo's first round pick (8th overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft is off to a hot start with the University of Minnesota in his freshman season. Mittelstadt so far has five goals and 15 points in 17 games played with the Golden Gophers.

The 19-year old was a standout for the United States in the 2016 IIHF Under-18 World Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota. In seven games played in the tournament, Mittelstadt scored four goals and registered nine points for the Americans. Mittelstadt and the Americans ended up winning the bronze medal that year, taking care of Canada, 10-3 in the bronze medal game.

The United States will look to begin their gold medal defense on the opening day of the tournament against Denmark at KeyBank Center.

Last year, Team USA captured the gold medal in Canada with a 5-4 shootout win over the host nation. Troy Terry was the hero for the Americans in the shootout as he scored the game-winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout, while Tyler Parsons turned away all five Canadian shooters to help the U.S. win the gold.

The U.S. will compete in Group A of the tournament this year along with Canada, Denmark, Finland and Slovakia. On December 29th, the U.S. and Canada will compete in the first ever outdoor game in World Junior Championship history at New Era Field in Orchard Park.